A Recipe for Ahab

By Anthony Giampetro (Ahab)

•  1 barrel of vine-ripened lines of Orson Welles’ dialogue from a half-mad, tortured, one-legged Whaling Captain
• 1 bucket of your concentrated, boiled-down understanding of Melville’s Moby Dick
• Peel and chop finely any background information, descriptions, motivations, likes and dislike etc… of said Captain and sauté until tender. Don’t’ overcook or it will overwhelm the flavor of the Ahab
• A long wooden implement by which to move the Ahab about is a necessity
• Stir
• Make sure you are properly attired during the preparation and especially the final presentation of the Ahab
• Stir
• Deglaze with wine because wine makes everything better. Have some yourself you deserve it.
• Stir
• Pour entire contents into a try-pot and bring to a slow simmer. This cannot be rushed
• Keep stirring
• An accent will do to enhance your Ahab but don’t use a heavy hand
• Stir
• Add a bit of sugary sweetness to humanize your Ahab or he may be too bitter to take
• Stir
• Salt and Pepper your Ahab (preferably sea-salt) to bring out the full flavor and depth of character
• Invite 80 to 100 friends, acquaintances, strangers and seat them about a tastefully lit, well-appointed sideboard and pour out your Ahab over al-dente Spermacetti.
• Enjoy

On Moby Dick: Entering the story through action.

by Michelle Pauls (Pip)

I love Moby Dick! I would never have believed that I would have gotten so swept up in the story of the white whale and the obsessed madman pursuing him. It is a story that means so many things on some many different levels.

First there is the sea. The wide expanse of never-ending ocean, stretching forever, hiding everything. I have dreamed of going to sea, off and on, for many years. Sitting on the beach in Rhode Island, I pictured myself on one of those lights at the edge of the horizon, secluded away from all the troubles of the land. Measuring existence from one short stay at port to the next. Or, maybe I’d just live on a houseboat for a while. Give up my daily grind and responsibilities, and get used to steadying myself against the constant rocking of the waves.

Speaking of rocking, one of my favorite parts of rehearsal for MOBY DICK – REHEARSED is simulating the rocking on board the Pequod on the stage at the Centre Theater. When I start rocking, or swaying, I am on that boat. I hear the gulls screeching, I see the white foam tipping the waves, I taste the salty air.

Why would anyone be a whaler? Sailing on the ship, Iron Age.

A rehearsal a few night back, one if the actors asked why anyone would enter the life of the Whaler. He could not comprehend the kind of person who would willingly join on of these crews. Men leaving home for 3-5 years at a time on a ship with few amenities. Why would someone pursue the dangers that populate the journey from the actual whaling to storms and the cold. Why would they forsake their families?
In a beautiful scene mid way through the play, Ahab and Starbuck muse about their families and we feel the potent pull of their children on their lives, or rather the children whose lives in which they are not participants. Of all of the reasons the play gives for Ahab to turn back from his obsessive mission, this is the one that rings in his ears and bends him to reconsider.
There was a great deal of discussion around the question of why people would enter this life. People mentioned poverty and financial need, the horrors of the class system, the desire to live on the edge, a need to run from someone or something. Throughout the discussion everyone seemed to see the act of being a whaler as alien and beyond our modern lives. Someone mentioned reality TV shows like “The Deadliest Catch” as example of this lifestyle today but still those characters seen as distant from our activities.
I think we theatre people, especially the people of the small, regional theaters, are much more in the wheelhouse of the whalers than we would realize.

The Boys Sing a Shanty

The Blood Red Rose by the Cast of Moby Dick Rehearsed